The Chinese government has denied that the swine flu vaccine was
to blame for a number of miscarriages suffered by women who received
the jab, state media recently reported.

The denial comes amid a mass vaccination campaign launched in
China to curb the spread of A(H1N1) influenza and ahead of the
Lunar New Year holidays, when millions of people travel to visit
loved ones.

About 10,000 pregnant women have so far received the vaccine
and "several" have had miscarriages, the director of
the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Liang Xiaofeng,
was quoted by the China Daily as saying.

But Liang said the miscarriages were "coincidental"
and not caused by the vaccine.

"The H1N1 flu vaccine has been proven worldwide to be safe
and effective among pregnant women," Liang said.

"Recommendations to take the shot for them (pregnant women),
who are at particularly high risk of developing life-threatening
complications once contracting the virus, remain unchanged."

Liang said most of the women who had suffered miscarriages after
taking the vaccine were less than three months' pregnant, meaning
they were at higher risk.

"In other words, without receiving the vaccine, it may still
happen," he said.

AFP's calls to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
went unanswered.

Beijing has urged pregnant women along with children, the elderly,
obese people and those with chronic diseases to get the swine
flu jab and limit travel during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.

China had recorded 758 swine flu deaths by January 24, according
to figures published on the health ministry's website.

Nearly all of them have occurred since November, and Beijing
has warned that the danger of mass outbreaks still exists in certain
areas.